Flexible sliding door



Mar. 13, 1923. 1,448,218

- C. E. HOLLAND FLEXIBLE SLIDING DOOR Filed Dec/51, 1921 5 sheets-sheet 1 4 Mar. 13, 1923.

- 1 1,448,218 C. E. HOLLAND FLEXIBLE SLIDING DOOR Filed Dec. 51, 1921 v I i I I &

Mar. 13, 1923. 1,448,218

c. E. HOLLAND FLEXIBLE SLIDING DOOR Filed Dec. 51, 1921 3 sheets-sheet 5' Patented Mar. 13, 1923.

UNITED STATES CHRISTOPHER E. HOLLAND, OF DENX TER, COLORADO.

FLEXIBLE SLIDING DOOR.

Application filed December 31, 1921. Serial No. 526,263.

To all whom it concern:

Be it known that I, CHRISTOPHER E. Hon- LAND, a citizen of the 'United States of America, residing at the city and county of Denver and State of Colorado, have invented a new and useful Flexible'Sliding Door, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to improvements in flexible sliding doors for the doorways of garages, factories, ofiice and other buildin s. j j

The object of the invention is to provide a door made up of individual horizontal bars, the extremities of which are connected in hinged relation with each other by sprocket chains, the' individual links of which are secured to individualbars, manually operated sprocket wheels being em ployed for supporting 'and operatingsaid door, each of said bars having opposite longitudinal lips which engage'corresponding lips on the adjoining bars, thereby clos in the space between the adjoining bars.

*urther, to provide in connection with a rolling door of this character and sprocket wheels supported at the upper end of the doorway for operating said door, a pair of horizontal tracks supported in line with said sprocket wheels to receive the door as it passes from a vertical to a horizontal position when raised, counter-balancing weights being connected to the upper end of the door which exert a constant upward pull on the same.

These objects are accomplished in the manner illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which: r j

Figure 1 is a view of a flexible door constructed in accordance with my invention, 40 looking outwardthrough the doorway.

Fig.2 is a vertical, sectional view through a doorway and a portion of a room, showing the improved door in closed position, together with the operating mechanism therefor.

Fig. 3 is a horizontal sectional view taken through the upper end of the doorway and showing the improved door and its operating mechanism, the last four bars at the upper end of the door being omitted for clearer illustration. I

Fig. 4 is an enlarged edge view of a portion of the door showing the sprocket chain connection between the individual bars of the door.

Fig. 5 is a rear view of the portion of the door shown in Figure 4.

Fig. 6 is a sectional view through the end of one of the bars, on the line 6-6 of Figure 5; and j Fig. 7 is a horizontal sectional view show. mg the adaptation of the invention to a frame structure, the last four bars at the upper end of the door being omitted, as 1n Fig. 3, for clearer illustration.

Referring to the accompanying drawings: The numeral 1 indicates the wall of a building and '2 a doorway in said wall, which communicates with a room, a portion of whose floor 3 and ceiling 4 are shown in Figure 2. Near the upper ends of the side members 5 of the door frame are secured bearings 6, in which is mounted a shaft 7, upon which are rigidly secured sprocket wheels 8 which are adjacent the bearings 6. A sprocket wheel 9 is also rigidly secured upon the shaft close to one of the sprocket wheels 8 and between the same and the adjacent bearing 6, and the sprocket wheel 9 is connected by a chain 10with a sprocket wheel 11 which is mounted onthe wallxl at a convenient distance above the floor, to be manually operated by means of a crank handle 12. I x

The axis of the Wheel 9 is at right angles to the axis of the wheel 11, and therefore the sprocket chain 10 must be given a twist in order to engage both sprocket wheels, as will be seen by reference to Figures 1 and 2'; but if desired, the sprocket wheel 11 may be mounted with its axis parallel with that of the wheel 9, thus avoiding the twist in the chain 10.

The improved door is made up of a plurality of horizontal bars 13, each of which has a cross sectional-outline comprising opposing semicircular faces,which are struck fromv different centers so as to form opposite longitudinal projecting lips 14, whose faces are on the same diametrical line through the axis of the bar.

In assembling the bars 13 to form the door, the said bars are arranged so that the lips 14 of each bar overlap thelips of the adjoining bars, as clearly shown in Figure 2, thereby closing the space between each two bars. The adjoining end portions of the bars are then connected by sprocket chains 15, the individual links of which are formed with lateral apertured plates 16,

which are secured by screws 17 to the individual bars, as clearly shown in Figures 1 and 5. Thus the bars forming the door are connected along their opposite end portions by the sprocket chains 15 which hold the bars together in parallel alinement, with the lips 1 1 arranged in overlapping order, thereby forming a strong, flexible, door which is arranged and operated as follows:

Upon each of the side members 5 of the door frame is secured a pair of angle bars 18, and the angle bars of each pair are separated by 'a'space slightly greater than the thickness of any one of the bars 13. These angle bars form guideways for the side edges of the improved door, by which the door is not only held in a vertical position as it is moved up and down in the doorway, but is also kept from buckling or collapsing.

The door is made long enough to extend from the bottom to the top of the doorway and over the sprocket wheels 8, so that the sprocket chains 15 are engaged by the said sprocket wheels, and to the uppermost bar of the door are secured the ends of two cables 19, which extend back and around grooved pulleys 20, which are mounted in brackets 21 which are secured to the rear ends of a pairof tracks 22 which extend rearward from oints adjacent the sprocket wheels 8 and are long enough to support the door in a horizontal position when the same is raised to the top of the doorway. The tracks 22 are preferably in the form of Z- bars, one wing of each bar being secured to the ceiling of the room, while the other wing forms a track, as will be understood by reference to the drawings. From the pulleys 20 the cables 19 extend forward and over grooved pulleys 23, which are mounted in brackets 24-, which are secured to the side members 5 of the door frame, and to the free end of the cables are secured weights 25, which counterbalance the weight of the door as the same is raised or lowered.

The bottom bar of the door is formed with a longitudinal groove 26, and a T-bar 27 is secured to the sill of the doorway, the vertical wing of which enters the said groove 26 when'the door is lowered, to entirely close the doorway, and this arrangement effects a tight joint between the bottom bar of the door andthe door sill, as clearly shown in Figure 2.

In order to permit the teeth of the sprocket wheels 8 to pass through the links of the chains 15, a piece of each end of each bar is cut away beneath the links to leave a recess 28, as clearly shown in Figure 6.

In Figure 7 is shown a slight modification in the arrangementof the mechanism when employed in connection with a frame structure, such as a garage, a barn or the like. In this construction the sprocket wheels 8 are inside the doorway, but one end of the shaft 7, on which the sprocket wheels 8 are/mounted, extends across and beyond the side frame 29 of the doorway far enough to receive the sprocket wheel 9, and in this case the crank operated sprocket wheel 11 will also be mounted on the frame 29 and with its axis parallel with that of the sprocket wheel 9, so that the driving chain 10' will connect the two wheels 9 and 11 in the usual manner, or without being twisted, as shown in Figures 1 and 2.

The improved door when closed is both wind tight and dust tight, as well as being rigid from top to bottom,the latter feature being due to the engagement of the lips 14 of the bars with each other throughout the length of the bars, and to the fact that the ends of the said bars are held between the guideway angle irons 18, and this latter feature makes the door self supporting when its bottom bar is resting on the T-iron 27, as it cannot possibly buckle, but is held to a true vertical position. When raised, the door is not only entirely out of the way, but'is supported in a horizontal position on the tracks22, which are secured to the ceiling joists, this manner of supporting the door being both simple and inexpensive. v

Having described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is: Y

1. The combination with a door frame and sill, vertical guideways on opposite sides of said frame, a .T-iron on said sill, a door supported in said guideways, and made up of individual bars connected along [their ends in hinged relation by sprocket chains,

sprocket wheels at the upper end of the door frame in engagement with said sprocket chains, and means for operating said wheels,

horizontal tracks extending back inv line with said sprocket wheels, whereby as the door is raised, it passes from a'vertical to a-ho'rizontal position and is supported on said tracks, the lower bar of said door having a longitudinal groove which fits over said T-iron when the door is down.

2. A flexible door comprising a plurality of horizontally disposed bars, eachv having opposite longitudinal lips which face in opposite directions and which overlap corresponding lips on adjoining bars, and

sprocket chains, the individual links .of which have lateral projections which are secured to individual bars along their end portions toconnect them in hinged relation. the lowermost bar having a longitudinal groove in its lower side.

3. The combination with a door frame having opposing guideways, of a door supported in said guideways which is made up of individual bars which are connected along their end portions in hinged relation, by sprocket chains, the individual links of said chains having extensions which are seexert a continuous upward pull on said 10 cured to the individual bars of the door, a door.

shaft mounted on said door frame adjacent In testimony whereof I afiix my signature its upper end, sgrockgt wheels rigidly sein presence of two witnesses.

cured on said she. t an in engagement with said sprocket chains, horizontal tracks in CHRISTOPHER H line with the highest points of said Witnesses:

sprocket wheels to support the door when G. SARGENT ELLIOTT,

raised, and counterbalancing weights which ELIZABETH SMITH. 

